Tuesday, July 29

Today's plans of crashing a L.A. style pool party were thwarted by well, the doorlady, as well as a freak monsoonish thunderstorm. I decided to dress the part anyway. This outfit was accompanied by my snow leopard beach towel and deep v one piece under one arm. These were quickly replaced by an umbrella and deep concern for my non-waterproof leather bag.

The wide-leg jeans were an adrenaline fueled purchase during an H&M opening. They are on the verge of too long, but I feel silly bringing them in to have them taken up half an inch to an inch. Five inch platform heels will have to do.

Monday, July 28

What I wore to traipse around Midtown Atlanta. I had to be appropriately dressed to walk confidently into fancy buildings even though I am not a gay man or was not walking a small dog. I think this is also how I come off looking too lady-ish sometimes.

I used to despise capri pants, convinced they make me look shorter. And then J. Crew came out with the Cafe Capri, which I love because they're all slim leg and slimming. From someone who is very much a skirt/dress person and doesn't own slacks or dress pants, these are a big deal.

I'm working on the lighting, because it is poor in so many of my shots... That and I have no photo editing program. We'll see how it goes.

I like to take the occasional "culture day" in the city. This is probably not as glamorous as it sounds - it typically involves some kind of ethnic food, followed by a foreign dessert, and maybe a mature or subtitled film. I'm often surprised by how unenthused some people are at the suggestion of such evenings. Maybe I am getting too pretentious or bourgeois? It's hard to say.

I think I was wearing too many clothes. Oh well, whatever. This culture-fest included bubble tea. I love bubble tea and could have different kinds every single day.

Wednesday, July 23

I believe it's going to continue to be slow around these parts until either Fall rolls around or the economy does some sort of magic backflip. Also, I haven't been consuming any fashion goods lately. Not that this was ever a "look what I bought!" blog, but still, that urge is tempered by the hot weather.

I will say I did buy some stationery, though. Do thank you notes really matter so much? I'm not sure, but atleast I got cute ones for this experiment. The notebooks I purchased weeks ago on vacation. I have a bad habit of collecting blank books and only writing in one at a time. I love Orla Kiely and was delighted to find a good assortment of paper goods at Sam Flax.

Sunday, July 20

What I wore to check out the boutique sale and for The Dark Knight. Conveniently, they were located in the same place.

I considered pulling out my purple and yellow and green things and wearing them mish-mashedly for a Joker look, but opted for black instead. Which might seem safe, but my collection of black things is very small. Love this vest, but it demands that I have more (non crazy colored) basics, as do many other special things in my wardrobe. I think I'm passing the age where dressing Punky Brewster, playful, and eccentric might not work for me anymore.

This is also a culmination of things from my last hurrah at the mall working retail. The shoes were purchased on my last shift. I've been eyeing these, and after touching the real ones in Saks, decided to go for it. I got lots of compliments and to the friends I met at the theatre that were skeptical, I simply told them, "They are like, Batman shoes." "Oh."

And the boutique warehouse sale? Just as huge and awesome as I remembered. I found everything from Original Penguin dresses to Prada floral heeled pumps to JKC scrimshaw bangles at amazing prices. Unfortunately unemployment guilt got the best of me and I left empty-handed. I hope everyone else got great deals, and that no one tried to go to any of the boutiques this weekend, as they were closed.

Oh, and of course, the movie lived up to the hype. The action scenes and character quirks were all insane. I thought it was perhaps half an hour too long, though. And gosh, I forgot how insane Atlantic Station is on weekends. I felt as if traffic had quadrupled and parked in Siberia of the parking deck.

Thursday, July 17

I was careless today in errand running and almost bypassed my Madewell visit. I did make it around 8:50 and felt too guilty to seriously shop.

But the storefront is so precious! It's next door to Aldo in the (I believe?) old Express space on the main level of Lenox. I felt like I was peering into a really cute house through the curtains. It's rustic and charming and whitewashed.

The displays were really really good. All the clothes smelled really new (I know, duh, but seriously) and the tables were peppered with moccasin boots, books, and bowls of scarves. The scarves were as great as I expected and came in a rainbow array of colors.

The stock they had was pretty close to what is on the (unshoppable?) catalog on the website. Lots of structured solids and basics in yummy and hardy fabrics. I think I will go back tomorrow to take a closer look at their cap sleeve dresses and peter pan blouses.

Oh and for those of you into totes or free stuff, they are giving out totes with purchases of jeans. They have a Madewell ATL tote for the opening and it was super cute! They are available separately for $10 as well.

No photos because I felt rude as it was for shopping so late. Didn't feel up to taking camera phone snaps.

It's that time again... Sure, yes, late July is typically a good time to hit the sales anyway. But the boutique sales are so much fun! I guess Atlanta isn't the same as other fashion cities - there are trunk shows and line unveilings, but not so many sample sales for lines. I wait for these twice a year to pick up things I've been eyeing. My favorite is the one that combines Bill Hallman and Wish.

This weekend, several boutiques are banding together at Atlantic Station. This sale will be in the space above Z Gallerie. I actually walked by there today and saw lots of construction paper over the windows. So yay for surprises. I have no idea how you get upstairs in that building though.

Wednesday, July 16

Back on tonight, 9 PM EST on Bravo. I can't wait to see the new contestants! Here's hoping there are characters just as great as Christian.

2. Madewell ATL

I still haven't made it to the store. I promise a full report once I do. I keep thinking the photos of the clothes look rather unexciting, but the prices are quite good if the quality is on par with J.Crew.

3. Batman: The Dark Knight

I'm tempted to wear lots of eyeliner and red lipstick to the show. Too much?

Does everyone have their tickets yet? I wanted to go to the IMAX, but those shows for this weekend are long sold out. And then I wanted to go to the drive-in, but I think that will be insane and I can't handle traffic when people don't know how to drive safely.

4. Books.

Okay, this one's nerdy. I just joined a book club and we are having our inaugural meeting soon. I'm excited to meet more intellectual people. And go book shopping!

5. MTV's Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods

I don't know how many of you are keeping up with this reality show, but I have been watching it shamelessly each week. I saw the show on Broadway in February and thought it was hilarious and heartwrenching. The finale is next week! And knowing MTV, if you've missed the previous episodes, you can probably catch a marathon sometime soon.

Monday, July 14

Rumor has it the Madewell 1937 store at Lenox Square officially opens tomorrow!

I'm going to try to stop by on my way downtown. I'm excited about scarves and all sorts of back to school goodies. I always forget that fall clothing is put out in July. It's weird here because you can't wear sweaters until nearly November.

Thursday, July 10

This is what I wore today to stare out the window grumpily to wait out the rain. Drought or no drought, when it rains, it's been monsooning. Ridiculous! This is absolutely foiling many of my summer adventures.

They are never in any particular order. And I find that 5 is a good number. 7 and 10 are too many and I can never narrow my choices down to 3.

Top five things currently on my wishlist:

1. Fifi Lapin drawings. Currently in the shop are looks from Chanel, Proenza Schouler, and Luella. Love these.

2. Chanel Robertson Blvd nailpolish collection. Ouch at $25 a pop. But the colors are so fantastic!

3. Nine West's Lahdidah shoe. It's a pretty solid knockoff... too bad they're not shipping them until September. You can probably find them in stores around the same time, just in time for Fall fashion.

4. Exotic vacation, preferably on a boat around the Greek isles. This is a bit ridiculous, but whatever. I have some graduation chips to cash in. Or maybe instead a birthday NYC trip that happens to coincide with the Topshop opening...

5. The Minnetonka moccasin knee high boots. I don't know why I don't have these. They're not outrageously expensive and I wear my short ones a lot. They just constantly get deprioritized when I see something else and think, "OOh! Shiny!" I'm putting them back on the list. Now the only question is, brown (dusty brown?!), or black?

I wore this out for dinner last week. I will mention again how it is blazing hot here. I can't handle wearing non-natural fabrics lately. Well unless it is raining, which has been everyday for the past several days.

This had to be worn with a pashmina eventually because while it is hot out, it is arctic everywhere inside. I'm still not used to this after spending a summer abroad where A/C isn't widely used or available...

Wednesday, July 2

So I've been MIA pretty frequently this month and haven't even made filler posts or excuse posts! I'm so sorry I've neglected the blog! I've been really stressed and have been coping. And besides, I didn't think it'd be that interesting if I posted what I was wearing in the house to watch daytime talkshows.

This update is just to say I am going to post less and focus instead on turning my summer around. I will, of course, be keeping up with everyone else's blog! So I'm trying to increase my number of adventures, and I'll keep you guys filled in.